Review Summary: A step down in scale and rough around the edges, but ultimately works well with the adjustments
Taking a page from Fatal Portrait’s playbook, King Diamond returned from a five-year gap with an album that’s evenly divided into half stand-alone songs and half narrative. It can feel like a noncommittal move in some regards, allowing the lines between this project and Mercyful Fate to blur even further by not fully jumping back into what set them apart. Fortunately, the presentation is cohesive enough for it to not feel underdeveloped.
However, the album’s rough production job ends up leaving a bigger impression than the song format. Whether due to budgets stretching thin or just the times catching up, the vocal mix has a distant echo, the guitar tones are grainy, and the drumming feels a bit more basic. It lacks the expected elegance, but the playing itself is still solid and the grimy atmosphere offers its own sort of charm.
The Fate connections are especially potent during the first half as the songs’ more straightforward executions feel comparable to those on Time. “From the Other Side” and “Killer” are a tight one-two opening punch with pummeling rhythms while “Dreams” brings the keyboards back into play with a catchy mid-tempo riff set. “Six Feet Under” is the most interesting track of the lot, pairing dark speed metal with a catchy chorus and an alternate ending to the Them/Conspiracy story that has King’s family bury him alive in a glass coffin to watch him suffocate. Brutal stuff.
Once the back half’s song cycle kicks up, things really start feeling like proper King Diamond again. The title track and the closing “To The Morgue” have an almost doomy undercurrent with the former circling between campy horror synth and a crushing plod while the latter’s choruses have a jovial menace that feels comparable to Candlemass. “Room 17” is another strong showcase as the eight-minute length sets its exposure therapy gone awry is sequenced to a dynamic tug o’ war.
While there’s no denying that The Spider’s Lullabye is a step down in scale and rougher around the edges, it ultimately works well with the adjusted circumstances. The divided format is more pronounced than it had been on Fatal Portrait, making for one of King Diamond’s more unique efforts, and the balance of straightforward and atmospheric songs never feels too lacking. It’s not quite a lost classic ala The Eye but certainly worth a listen for any diehards who might’ve passed it by.
